Polavaram issue sparks protest in Odisha Assembly

Bhubaneswar: The controversial Polavaram dam issue sparked protests inside and outside Odisha assembly on Monday with ruling BJD MLAs disrupting house proceedings and their party colleagues organising a 12-hour 'hartal' in four southern districts.

The treasury bench members demanding cancellation of the dam project, the bill on which had been passed by Parliament last week, rushed to well of the House as soon as it assembled for the question hour.

As they continued to raise slogans, Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the house till 3 PM. This led to the BJD members staging a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the assembly premises and protesting against the Centre’s unilateral decision to go ahead with the Polavaram project.

They also criticised the BJP-led NDA government for passing the Andhra Reorganisation Bill in Lok Sabha, which paved way for the construction of the Polavaram project.

"Treasury bench members disrupting proceedings of the House is condemnable. This has been done to avoid a discussion on a adjournment motion brought by the opposition party. There was no necessity to adjourn the house till 3 PM," said Leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra of Congress.

BJPLP leader Basant Panda, however, criticised the BJD government for not having data on how much damage Polavaram project would cause in Odisha when implemented.

The Odisha government has been all through saying that it was collecting data, he said.

Senior BJD leader and state Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said, "It appears that the NDA government has no respect for the federal structure in the country. How can the NDA government pass a bill in Lok sabha when three other states are opposing it.